News

Global Source PDA releases 9V Emergency Charger for iPods

By Dennis Lloyd ● Thursday, September 2, 2004

The 3-in-1 9V Emergency Key Chain Charger includes a detachable dock connector for charging 3G/4G/HP/mini iPods, a detachable LED light and a detachable screw driver bit. Connect a 9V battery (not included) and charge your iPod on-the-go or use it as a flashlight. The charger costs $17.49.

Comments

1

Silly. I’d be interested in what situation, short of choking on a mini, would be considered an iPod “emergency.”

Posted by Ape in Irvine, CA on September 2, 2004 at 1:05 PM (CDT)

1

This is great for those times when you leave the house just to find that your battery is dead when you’re already on the train/bus/whatever. I will have a closer look at this.

Posted by Oliver :) in Irvine, CA on September 2, 2004 at 1:17 PM (CDT)

1

it doesn’t say anything about how long it takes to charge it. maybe i’m wrong, but it doesn’t seem possible for a 9v battery to supercharge an iPod to 75% in 2 hours.

Posted by questions in Irvine, CA on September 2, 2004 at 1:46 PM (CDT)

1

this would be a great product for the “lounge” to review. if it works well, it would help a lot on long plane rides or camping trips.

Posted by review request in Irvine, CA on September 2, 2004 at 1:48 PM (CDT)

1

Umm…the typical 9V battery is around 200-250mAh, so that will what, charge the iPod up to about 25-30% (iPod’s battery is somewhere around 800-1000mAh)? No thanks, not when good 9V’s cost $2 or more…

I guess if it’s worth $2 to have about 2 hours worth of music, then I guess some people will buy it.

Posted by bikepodmini in Irvine, CA on September 2, 2004 at 2:21 PM (CDT)

1

i would very much like one of those dock connector - audio jack adapters. That would be very cool. It might be worth buying just for that.

Posted by Harrison in Irvine, CA on September 2, 2004 at 4:14 PM (CDT)

1

this might be useful if you happen to be in the path of hurricanes and their subsequent power outages like I am. When Charley hit us a few weeks ago, our power went out for seven days and my ipod only lasted for two. With Frances coming, I could see this getting some use.

Posted by dan in Irvine, CA on September 2, 2004 at 4:21 PM (CDT)

1

just buy a car charger for cheaper, its alot faster and nice, plus you dont have to keep buying batteries.

Posted by dear dan in Irvine, CA on September 2, 2004 at 4:52 PM (CDT)

1

And here comes hurricane francis. but i got a real iPod charger…uses 8 AA’s. And i got battery powered media speakers :-D come on francis..give me the best you got and come in the day for better video!

Posted by Boaguy in Irvine, CA on September 2, 2004 at 8:23 PM (CDT)

1

boy.. with Frances on it’s way you’d think you guys would have bigger problems than charging up your iPods….

Posted by Jufafs in Irvine, CA on September 3, 2004 at 12:02 AM (CDT)

1

i just bought one

i’ll do a small write up if/when it arrives (has to travel half way around the world)

also, you can get rechargable 9v batteries,

Posted by cords in Irvine, CA on September 3, 2004 at 1:08 AM (CDT)

1

1:“My God, he’s listening to Linkin Park!”
2:“No! Quick, get him 10 minutes of The Who, STAT!”
1:“The iPod… it’s dead!”
2:“Oh no… he’s doomed to a life of crappy music. Damn you, Apple… DAMN YOUUUUUUUU”
1:“If only we had some other method of charging the iPod. If only.”

In all seriousness, I don’t think there are too many situations where there would be an iPod emergency, though if you needed to transfer some files through a USB1.0/1 and you were low on juice this might do the trick.

Posted by Alden in Irvine, CA on September 3, 2004 at 1:35 AM (CDT)

1

Wry smile here on the “emergency” part. What is does appear to be is the most LIGHTWEIGHT extra power solution, and the most practical when weight and space are an issue. Jeremy??? Could you move this up in the review queue?

Posted by Aceon6 in Irvine, CA on September 3, 2004 at 6:34 AM (CDT)

1

iPod Emergency = When the iPod battery dies 1 hour into a 3 hour plane trip where you are completely surrounded by unaccompanied children… screaming children

***shudder***

Posted by IDSmoker in Irvine, CA on September 3, 2004 at 7:35 AM (CDT)

1

I think it’s a great product! Doesn’t cost $149 either.

Would the speed of the charge or the capacity of the charge into the iPod differ if you used a carbon battery versus an alkaline battery?

Posted by Obadiah in Irvine, CA on September 3, 2004 at 9:20 AM (CDT)

1

Super Neat

If this get the thumbs up from the Lounge’s review then this Rocks!

It unplugs apart leaving what looks like the plug that fits in the bottom of th eipod at one end & a 3.5mm plug at the other - which means you amy be able to use the 3.5mm plug on a modded battery pack for even longer life.

__________________________________________________

who cares about Frances other than the americans, there’s millions starving & being gunned down by american money (ala israel).

Posted by neato in Irvine, CA on September 3, 2004 at 9:51 AM (CDT)

1

“also, you can get rechargable 9v batteries”

So, you want to get rechargable 9V batteries so that you can charge them, then bring them with you, to charge the iPod? Sounds a little like you want to just do a lot of recharging…

I’m not sure I’ve heard of a carbon battery before…they make lithium batteries, although I’m not sure they come in 9V sizes, and if they did, I’m sure they’d be at least twice the price of a regular one, but maybe it’s at a higher capacity.

I don’t really get the point of this device, except the comment made by IDSmoker. Kids will be kids, but parents need to learn to control their kids in small public places, and themselves. I remember listening to some little boy talk on a plane ride for a full 3 hours of flight, and all his mom did? She sat there laughing at him at the top of her lungs, right behind my just wedded wife and I. Oh what fun that ride was…that’s another story though.

Posted by bikepodmini in Irvine, CA on September 3, 2004 at 10:52 AM (CDT)

1

Only in your pathetic little iPod world of 8-hr max battery life (4-hr or less in real use situations) would this product even have a chance of being marketable.
And rechargeable 9V batteries? So let me get this, you’re going to recharge the iPod using this charger connected to a rechargeable battery which itself gets plugged into its own recharging station which then gets plugged into what? Your own portable generator?
You’re still not addressing the fundamental problem here which is the miniscule battery life added to the inefficient backlight which sucks the said battery life like Jenna Jamison sucks…well, you know.
With that being said, I’m gonna go and order one for myself. My iPod’s showing about a pixel worth of power left.

Posted by Anonymous in Irvine, CA on September 3, 2004 at 11:36 AM (CDT)

1

It seems few people here really know much about batteries. I don’t either, but I know ehere to look:

Most of us are accustomed to seeing batteries rated in milliampere-hours (mAh), a measure of how much current they can provide over time. A rating of 1600 mAh means that the battery should theoretically be able to supply 1600 milliamps (mA) for one hour, or 160 milliamps for ten hours, etc. The best NiMH AA cells today carry ratings of 1700 to 1800 mAh.

It turns out though, that mAh is really only part of the story. What we really care about is how much total energy a battery can deliver. Energy is measured in Watt-hours, the product of voltage and current over time, or volts times amperes, measured over hours. (A milliamp is 1/1000 of an ampere.) To measure total energy, we need to measure the voltage and current moment by moment throughout the battery’s discharge, multiply the two values together, and total up all the individual readings.

Posted by batteries in Irvine, CA on September 3, 2004 at 4:23 PM (CDT)

1

In regards to the last post, the highest-capacity AA NiMH batteries out there right now are 2450mAh, not 1700-1800 (see http://www.zbattery.com/pro415-e.html) 2300mAh batteries are also easy to find online. Just for comparison, regular old Duracell alkalines are somewhere in the neighborhood of 2800mAh, IIRC.

Posted by battery2 in Irvine, CA on September 3, 2004 at 5:06 PM (CDT)